County health officials are trying to decide what to do about exposed openings in a sewer line near an abandoned street under an obsolete bridge along Jackman Avenue.

Health inspector Paul Brown, responding last week to West Bellevue Street, found a number of holes in the 100-year-old sewer line.

"Unfortunately, there are some holes of various sizes, some of them pretty large," said Guillermo Cole, spokesman for the Allegheny County Health Department.

Mr. Cole said raw sewage can be seen flowing through the pipe, but there is no evidence of sewage surfacing or discharging.

"Still, it is unacceptable, because it creates the potential for a sewage discharge that could contaminate the environment," Mr. Cole said. "And it is accessible and you could have people, children come up on it."

Mr. Cole said the pipe is near the border between Avalon and Bellevue, but it appears that repairing or replacing the line will be the responsibility of Bellevue.

"It will have to be repaired," Mr. Cole said. "It will be a fairly large project that could take a while. But we're going to have to put something, some [patches] on the holes in that line, so if they do get a significant flow through the line, we don't get sewage oozing out.

"But as long as there are holes, there's the potential for sewage escaping."

Mr. Cole said a three-man team would inspect the line this week and propose solutions for the short term and long term.